Sunday, April 28, 2013

Still waiting for something blog worthy

Email isn't quite Chance's thing. Im sure over the next 2 yrs he will get good at it, but for now, this weeks email didn't have anything in it blog worthy. So....Im waiting to get a letter (which he said he'd rather do) so I can post about his adventures in the MTC.
Thanks to Sister Erin Handley- she emailed her family some pics from the MTC and it just so happened there was one of Elder Boekweg in there. Sister Handley is our neighbor and she entered the MTC the same day as Chance. She is going to Denmark on her mission.
So for this week all I have is the picture. And you know, pictures are worth a thousand words, right?
I just love seeing Chance with his Missionary name tag on.


Sister Handley and Elder Boekweg- Provo Temple

Friday, April 19, 2013

The Rock- written by Elder Boekweg Apr 18, 2013

I was a rock,

Tough and cold and mean,
then one day I was carried off,
By a man I didn't see,

He threw me down a mountain,
I yelled and cried and screamed,
I bounced and cracked and chipped away,
and shattered all my dreams,

He put me in a river,
it crashed and wore me down,
sanding down my edges,
of which I was so proud,

Still the torment lingered,
I fought it all the way,
I thought the Man must hate me,
To have hurt me all these days,

Then suddenly, I saw the Man,
I saw his smiling face,
I saw that I was in His hands,
I understood His grace,

He had saved me from the rocky pits,
where I would have stayed the same,
As ugly as the day He came,
without a hope of change,

He polished all my edges,
He made my surface shine,
Broke away my weaker parts,
made strength and smoothness mine,

and now at last I understand,
why He chose me on that day,
for what He did was not in hate,
but love, and needed change,

He saw in me what I did not,
beneath the rough and cold,
and helped me change, 'til it shown through,

Now I am a polished stone

1st Letter- 1 week in the MTC


  It's good to hear that you are all okay. Things are pretty crazy here at the MTC. I don't have much time to even think about how horribly I miss guitar and otherwise good music, but business is good, the MTC is good.I have already learned in the past week that when we think only of others and their needs, our own needs are automatically met. I have also learned so many new things in this one week because we spend so much time reading the scriptures. I've been studying the apostle Peter and his relation to Christ, and have found that Peter was dang righteous and cool man.
   I'm hoping my Visa comes really soon. I'll catch a plane to Peru, and with any luck stay alive all the way to the Lima MTC.
   I am actually in a tri-panionship. I have 2 companions, Elder Leavitt, from Cottonwood Heights and Elder Cunningham from Rexburg Idaho. They are awesome. I actually enjoy the extra company. They are also waiting for their Peru visas so they can go to Trujillo with me. Elder Leavitt got his call a week before me. Seems us Peru Elders get long waits. But its all good.
   Elder Leavitt as we went to bed last night said, "Elders... not to freak you out, but we have 729 days left of this..." That is a long time, but at the same time, its going really fast.
   I have seen Elder Cheney, Elder Monson, Elder Stewart, and of course Sister Handley. They are all happy.
   Courtney has a very special letter coming from me today.... ha ha ha. I hope she laughs at it.
   I need a watch. I dropped that other one on the very first day from 4 feet in the air and it broke. Dumb thing. I have looked and I'm pretty sure they only sell girl watches here. Send me one if you can.
   I only have a half hour to write everybody, so I'm going to have to keep this short. I can't believe I have already been here a week. I stood on the temple grounds today and thought about how it had already been 8 days since I said goodbye to you all from that exact same place. It was weird. I think these 2 years are going to fly by...
   We finished with our first "investigator" yesterday. I'm not allowed to disclose her name, but we actually got her to agree to baptism. This is cool, because even though she wasn't a "real" investigator, she was supposed to follow the spirit as she felt it. Meaning that she is as real as it gets without being real. But we really had it easy with her. She pretty much asked us to be baptized before we ever brought it up.
  Anyway, I love you and miss you. I use the "is this some kind of JOKE!?" thing all the time, and nobody laughs because it's stupid. Ha ha ha.
   Peace out. Long live Rock n' Roll.
   I love you! I'll keep writing!
  

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Off to the MTC finally!!

 
 
  Today was the BIG day. We left Tooele this morning and headed for Provo.  Went and had lunch at Subway (Chances choice), then over to the Provo Temple for pictures. There were lots of families doing the same thing as we were. The energy at and around the Temple and the MTC was crazy. What a fun sight to see.
 
 
 
 Chance and Courtney on Gomez family's favorite bench!




Here we are at the MTC curb. Strict instructions to take 2 1/2 minutes for goodbye. Chance was so eager and excited I don't think we took 1 minute. But I wouldn't have wanted to hold him back at this point. Better to leave with a smile, and that he was!



There he goes! Happy to get on with his mission.